Nat Fleischer ranked Papke as the #7 All-Time Middleweight; Charley Rose
ranked him as the #10 All-Time Middleweight; He was elected to the Ring
Boxing Hall of Fame in 1972 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in
2001

He was the father of Billy Papke Jr. who also boxed; In a tragic ending
to his life in 1936, Papke killed his estranged wife and committed
suicide